|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
\Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:31:42 -0400
Yep, pretty scary... and impacts on humans too... http://news.independent.co.uk/enviro...cle2449968.ece Independent.co.uk Online Edition: Home Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross Published: 15 April 2007 It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail. They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well. The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives. The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast. CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned. Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK." The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left". No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks. German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines. Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause. Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real." The case against handsets Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer, take decades to show up. Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they held the handset. Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives. Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a form of RSI from constant texting. Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries, warned that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a series of safety recommendations, largely ignored by ministers. === I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.) Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of! http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 21:20:23 -0700, Mike Vandeman
wrote: Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? So what! I could live off cheese nips, beef jerky, pizza and ice cream. -- Slack |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
?Slack wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 21:20:23 -0700, Mike Vandeman wrote: Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? So what! I could live off cheese nips, beef jerky, pizza and ice cream. Good thing you're slow on climbs. Bill "ain't 'splainin'" S. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Mike Vandeman wrote: Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? No. Next question? CC |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
"Mike Vandeman" wrote: \Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:31:42 -0400 CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned. Astonishingly nothing can be found on any of Germanys beekeeper websites not even on national association of beekeepers. Doh! Perhaps there were no more bees they could write about? |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
On Apr 17, 10:42Â*pm, â–€Slack wrote:
On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 21:20:23 -0700, Mike Vandeman Â* wrote: Are mobilephoneswiping out ourbees? So what! I could live off cheese nips, beef jerky, pizza and ice cream. -- Slack Yes, but you obviously have a brain tumor!: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features...,7105692.story Cell phone risks cited in studies Three groups find danger of tumors By Nancy McVicar South Florida Sun-Sentinel Health Writer Posted February 1 2006 Adding new fuel to the debate over cell phone safety, three European research groups in separate studies have found an increased risk of brain tumors in people who have used the phones for 10 years or more. Two of the studies found a correlation between the tumor's location and the side of the head where people reported they held the phone. One also suggests the greatest risk is in people who began using the phones before age 20, but researchers said the study group was small and more research should be done. Two of the studies, one in England and one in Germany, are part of the 13-nation Interphone Study, an effort sanctioned by the World Health Organization to assess possible health risks from the radiation emitted by cell phones. Both studies found an increased risk of glioma, an often deadly brain cancer, in people who had used cell phones 10 years or more. An earlier Interphone study, reported in October 2004 by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, found an increased risk for a non-cancerous brain tumor called acoustic neuroma after 10 years of cell phone use, but not for glioma. "When you put the three large Interphone results together -- the German, English and Swedish -- they tell a story, and it begs for attention," said Louis Slesin, publisher of Microwave News, who has been reporting on the health effects of such radiation for two decades. John Walls, vice president of public affairs for CTIA, The Wireless Association, a cell phone industry trade group in Washington, D.C., said the increase in glioma in people who had used the phones more than 10 years was "statistically insignificant," and said there is no cause for concern. The German study, conducted by Joachim Schuz and colleagues at the University of Mainz, was published online by the American Journal of Epidemiology. The researchers compared a group of 749 brain tumor patients with 1,494 similar people who had not used cell phones and found a doubling of the risk of gliomas after 10 years of use. They said numbers of people in the study who had used the phones for 10 years was small, and the findings need to be confirmed by other studies. The British researchers compared a group of 966 brain tumor patients with a group of 1,716 healthy patients who had not used cell phones. They found a 20 percent increase in cancers among long-term users, but no overall increased risk in people who used cell phones. The study, funded largely by the cell phone industry and published online by the British Medical Journal, found a significantly increased risk for tumors that developed on the same side of the head where patients said they most often held the phone. But lead researcher Patricia McKinney said that finding probably was due to many patients not accurately recalling which ear they'd used most of the time. Critics said conclusions drawn by the researchers were "highly misleading" and might give cell phone users a false sense of security. George Carlo, who headed the American cell phone industry's 1990s research program, said the findings indicate a 24 percent increase in tumors among people who used the phone on the same side as the tumor. Alasdair Philips, director of Powerwatch, an independent watchdog group in England, also said the claim of no association of risk is unjustified because the study excluded half the people who developed gliomas because they died before they could be interviewed. McKinney, an epidemiologist at the Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Therapeutics, said "we have no reason to believe the findings were affected by the [exclusion of half the cases]." In an e-mail to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, she defended the decision to discount the high number of cases reported on the same side of the head where the phone was held. A third study, in the February edition of International Journal of Oncology, found an increased risk of acoustic neuromas in long-term users. Dr. Lennart Hardell and colleagues at Orebro University in Sweden analyzed the cases of 1,254 people diagnosed with benign brain tumors between 1997 and 2003, and compared them with a similar group of 2,162 people who had not used cell phones. They found that people who used analog cell phones starting 15 years before diagnosis developed acoustic neuromas at a rate almost four times higher than the comparison group. Walls, of the CTIA, said he had not seen the Swedish study, but questioned the validity of the findings and the researchers' study design. An analysis late last year by Dr. Henry Lai, who heads the Bioelectromagnetics Research Laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle, said of 271 laboratory or clinical studies done in recent years, about 60 percent have shown a biological effect in cells or animals exposed to radio frequency radiation. -------- Cell phones and radiation Because questions remain about the long-term safety of cell phones, users who want to reduce their exposure to radio frequency radiation can follow these strategies: Use a landline phone when one is available. Keep cell phone calls short. Don't carry a cell phone in a pocket. Use a hands-free headset or use a speakerphone so that the phone is not placed against the head. When using a hands-free headset, allow the wire to fall naturally down the torso to the phone clipped at the waist, which allows any radiation to be absorbed in small amounts along the body rather than concentrated in the head. SOURCES: MOTOROLA, U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, NATIONAL RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION BOARD, UNITED KINGDOM; VERUM FOUNDATION, GERMANY -- NANCY MCVICAR |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message ... \Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:31:42 -0400 Yep, pretty scary... and impacts on humans too... http://news.independent.co.uk/enviro...cle2449968.ece Actually, IF this turns out to be accurate, it is scary stuff indeed. Sad thing is, it's probably not scary for the reason YOU think it's scary. The problem becomes, the affect of loss of bees might have on human populations. I'm certain that your view is that the loss of bees is important to the bees, and that radio waves are bad for people. Radio waves are not directly bad for people, but if they are bad for bees, then bad things happening to bees might be bad for people. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
On Apr 18, 1:58 pm, "Jeff Strickland" wrote:
"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message ... \Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:31:42 -0400 Yep, pretty scary... and impacts on humans too... http://news.independent.co.uk/enviro...cle2449968.ece Actually, IF this turns out to be accurate, it is scary stuff indeed. Sad thing is, it's probably not scary for the reason YOU think it's scary. The problem becomes, the affect of loss of bees might have on human populations. I'm certain that your view is that the loss of bees is important to the bees, and that radio waves are bad for people. Radio waves are not directly bad for people, but if they are bad for bees, then bad things happening to bees might be bad for people. The evidence that electromagnetic radiation at some wavelengths can harm people is inconclusive - but it is clearly too early to wrote it off. Some kinds of radio waves at modest intensity - microwaves for example - can clearly cause short term harm. A UHF signal at close range may have other effects that we'd rather not think about... Having said this, I agree - the loss of bee populations is a very frightening scenario. I doubt if global warming is responsible for this one, since bees seem to do well in numerous habitats and ecozones. So, it has to be something else, and it must be something that has reared its ugly head in the last few years *where the bees have been disappearing*. Massive cell phone connectivity could be the culprit - but consider that lots of new broadcast technology has been erupting (digital TV on a brand new set of frequencies, digital AM & FM on their respective bands)...and in a few places, internet access via powerline transmission is being bandied about... Maybe it's even a new *something* brought about by Homeland Security! How about that, Tinfoil-hat-types? Until now I had always been under the impression that bees navigate primarily through visual methods, but - well, learn somethng new every day, eh? Bruce Jensen |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Jeff Strickland wrote:
"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message ... \Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:31:42 -0400 Yep, pretty scary... and impacts on humans too... http://news.independent.co.uk/enviro...cle2449968.ece Actually, IF this turns out to be accurate, it is scary stuff indeed. Sad thing is, it's probably not scary for the reason YOU think it's scary. The problem becomes, the affect of loss of bees might have on human populations. I'm certain that your view is that the loss of bees is important to the bees, and that radio waves are bad for people. Radio waves are not directly bad for people, but if they are bad for bees, then bad things happening to bees might be bad for people. The story appears to have something to it! Central or Southern Canada is also having bee disappearance issues big time. It is in the major Toronto newspapers this week. Mike 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115147590 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page) |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
"Mike Romain" wrote in message g.com... Jeff Strickland wrote: "Mike Vandeman" wrote in message ... \Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:31:42 -0400 Yep, pretty scary... and impacts on humans too... http://news.independent.co.uk/enviro...cle2449968.ece Actually, IF this turns out to be accurate, it is scary stuff indeed. Sad thing is, it's probably not scary for the reason YOU think it's scary. The problem becomes, the affect of loss of bees might have on human populations. I'm certain that your view is that the loss of bees is important to the bees, and that radio waves are bad for people. Radio waves are not directly bad for people, but if they are bad for bees, then bad things happening to bees might be bad for people. The story appears to have something to it! Central or Southern Canada is also having bee disappearance issues big time. It is in the major Toronto newspapers this week. FINALLY, Vandeman is worried about something that appears to have merit. The sad thing is, he is probably not worried about the aspects that carry the merit. Maybe he'll grace us with a logical explanation of his position. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Hub Dynamo for charging mobile phones | biking-geordie | UK | 9 | October 30th 06 11:49 AM |
mobile phones whilst cycling? | MartinM | UK | 79 | October 10th 06 11:14 PM |
Mobile phones, wives and Cokers | onebyone | Unicycling | 22 | July 12th 05 12:52 AM |
Mobile 'phones crackdown | MartinM | UK | 79 | November 23rd 04 02:32 PM |
Mobile Phones | Vincent Wilcox | UK | 38 | December 5th 03 10:02 AM |